Regenerator



J. DANIELS REGENERATOR May "9, 1933.

Filed Dec. ll, 1931 Patented May 9, 1933 UNITED STATES PORATION F vDELAWARE Lessa PTE Ef" FFICE' BY MESNE ASSGNMENTS, TO 0FPITTSBURGH,'PENNSYLVANIA, A GOR- REGENERATOR Application led December11, 1931, Serial No. 580,409, and in Germany August 25, 1930.

This invention relates to heat exchanging devices known as regeneratorsfor utilizing the sensible heat of hot gases, particularly hotcombustion gases', for the purpose of heating cold'gases such as air forcombustion.

In the known regenerators, the heat is transferred from the hot gases tothe gases which are to be heated by means of ceramic or like elementswhich are usually set loosely o in chambers composed of lireproofbrickwork or thelike. These heat exchanging elements preferably have theform of a long prism.

Owing to the fact that in the usual regenerators the heat exchangingelements are set in the regenerator chambers after the latter have beenbuilt, it is necessary to construct the said chambers of relativelylarge breadth, at least suficiently broad as to allow them to beentered, but in many cases it is impossible to emploj7 such broadregerenatorchambers which vcan be entered by a man. Such conditionsexist for instance in the case of tunnel ovens operating withregenerative heating which are used for burning ceramic material and thelike, and wherein a series of closely adjacent air and gas nozzles areprovided in the combustion zone of the tunnel, by means of which acontinuous band flame of uniform intensity is obtained in the interiorof the oven, each of the said gas and air nozzles being connected with aregenerator extending transversely of thel longitudinal axis of thetunnel. ln this type of tunnel ovens the regenerators have to beconsiderably narrower than is otherwise usual; consequently it islmpossble for them to be filled with heat exchanging elements after theyhave been constructed.

One object of my present invention is to o providean improved heatexchanging element for regenerators which permitsthe con* struction ofextremely narrow regenerators or regenerator chambers.

The essential feature of the heat exchanging element according to theinvention is that it has the form of an ordinarybrick as used forconstructing the walls of the regenerator chambers, and that this brickis provided on the side facing the regenerator chamber,

i. e. the inside, with one or more projections extending into theregenerator chamber.

selves against the projections of the opposite wall of the regenerator.Thus loosely arranged heat exchanging elements are no longy er used inthe regenerators according to the present invention. The exchange ofheat takes place only on the projections of the regenerator wall bricksand on the surface of the bricks themselves. As the projections applythemselves firmly against each other in the finished regenerator, thewhole structure is extraordinarily stable and pressure resistant. Y

The projections of the bricks are preferably arranged in staggeredrelationship to each other', for instance in the form of a checkerboard. Also, according to the invention the regenerator walls areprovided with heat exchanging projections on both sides and are alsoprovided with ordinary tongues and grooves which engage in each otherwhen the walls are erected so as to make the latter gastight. f

The invention also provides an improved construction of regeneratorwhich is characterized by great stability and strength against externalstrain. .According to the invention the narrow regenerator chamberswhich in one period of operation are opened temporarily to gas or air,are disposed inside a chamber "which is provided with great strength bystrong brickwork and external stays and into which the individual heatexchanging elements provided with projections on one or both sides arebuilt, as formerly the loose heat exchanging elements were set in theregenerator chambers, in such a Inanner that the chamber is divided intoa whole series of narrow regenerators.

In such a narrow regenerator comprised in a block and built up with thebricks according to the invention, the employment of longitudinaltongues and grooves on the vbricks for obtaining better sealing of thejoints between the various bricks is of advantage in order toprevent thegaseous `media escaping from one regenerator into the adjacentregenerator although even when bricks without grooves are used it ishardly stays. block or the chamber thereof, the bricks 1 illustrated inFig. 1 are arranged in such a possible for short circuits to occurbetween the various regenerators owing to the ab' sence of differencesin pressure.

With these and other objects of my invention in view I will now describethe nature of my present invention with reference to the accompanyingdrawing, in which,

Figure 1 illustrates ay regenerator wall brick constructed according tothe invention, and

Fig. 2 illustrates partly in section a regenerator block composed of thebricksillustrated in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 the body 1 of the regenerator brick is constructedprismatically and is provided on the top and on one end face with acontinuous groove 2 while the bottom and the other end face are providedwith a longitudinal tongue 3. The grooves 2 and tongues 3 are so formedthat when the bricks are set together the tongues 3 engage in thegrooves 2of the adjacent bricks.

The body l of the brick is provided on both sides with preferablyprismatic -projections 4 which project into the regenerator chamberscomprised by the wall bricks and are flowed over successively by the hotgases whose sensible heat is to be utilized and the gases which are tobe heated. By arranging the projections 4 unsymmetrical, when theregenerator wall is erected the said projections take up a staggeredposition in relation to each other in the form of a chequer board.

The structure of a regenerator composed of thebricks shown in Fig. 1isillustratedl in Fig. 2.

The regenerator block according to Fig. 2

consists of a chamber formed of fireprooi brickwork 5. The walls 5 areheld together externally by stiieners or other suitable In the interiorof the regenerator manner as to form a series of narrow adjacentregenerator chambers, the bricks being placed so closely together thatthe projections l Voi opposite bricks touch each other with their endfaces, so that the partition walls of the individual regeneratorchambers are mutually supported. Consequently the wllroe oven block isrenderedextraordinarily so i Beneath cach regenerator in the base of theregenerator block various outlets 8, 8c; controlled by valves 7, 7a areprovided. The openings 8a, that is, those of the one set of alternateregenerators, open into a bottom cltnnel 9a of the regenerator block,Whilst the other openings 8 open into a channel 9. rlfhese,channels 9and 90; serve to distribute the media which are to be passed through theregenerators to all the regenerators in the block. rlhe media aresupplied to the distributing channels 9 and 9a through the channels 10and 11, of which as shown in the drawing, the channel 10 is connected bythe opening 16 with the channel 9a and the channel 11 by the opening 12with the channel 9.

In the opera-tion of the regenerators the gaseous media to be preheatedare passed through the regenerators from the bottom upwardly. At theupper end of each regenerator a gas collecting space or chamber 13 isprovided from which channels 14 lead up o-ut of the block. j Y In thedrawing the projections on the regenerator bricks are shown as ofprismatic construction, but it is possible to make them circular or ofany other suitable form.

The regenerator according to the invention or the block form ofregenerator .illustrated in the drawing is particularly suit- -able forpreheating different media having approximately the same pressure, suchas heatingvgas and combustion air. In cases where media of substantiallydifferent pressure are to be preheated in one regenerator block it ispreferred to assemble the regenerators for the various meda in groupsand sepf 0 arate them by walls of greater thickness from the group ofregenerators through which the media of a dierent pressure are passed.The method is advantageous for instance for preventing heating gaspassing? into the .waste heat regenerators,

I claim l. In a regenerator, a regenerator chamber-forming wall composedof superposed courses of wall bricks having regenerator brickprojections extending from the regenerator chamber side of the wall,each of the regenerator-brick projections being of less length and depththan the length and depth of their respective wall bricks and the sidefaces of the regenerator-brick projections being perpendicular to thesides of the regenerator chamber-forming wall, and the regenerator-brickprojections of each course ofr wail brick being disposed in planesbetweeneach two regenerator-brick projections of an adjacent course,thereby providing zig-zag gas flow spaces between the regeneratorprojections of adjacent courses and betweenA cach two regenerator-brickprojections 1n' the same course.

2. In a regenerator, a regenerator chamber-forming wall composed ofsuperposed courses of wall bricks having regenerator-H brick projectionseXtending on two opposite sides of the wall, each of the regenerato-rbrick projections being of less length and depth than the length anddepth of their respective wall bricks and the side faces of theVregeneratorebrick projections being perpendicular to the sides of theregenerator chamber-forming wall, and the regenerator-brick projectionsof each course of wall brick on each side of the wall being disposed inplanes i between each two regenerator-brick projections of an adjacentcourse, thereby providf ing zig-zag gas iiow spaces between theregenerator projections of adjacent courses and between each tworegenerator-brick projections in the same course.

3. A regenerator comprising two oppositely disposed imperforategas-tight regenerator chamber-forming walls forming a regeneratorchamber therebetween, each of the walls comprising superposed courses ofwall brick, the wall bricks of each course in each of said walls havingregenerator-brick projections extending into the chamber toward theother wall thereof, each of the regenerator-brick projections being ofless length and depth than the length and depth of their respective wallbricks and each projection having side faces perpendicular to theregenerator walls, the regenerator-brick pro- 29 jections of the wallbricks of each course being disposed in planes between each tworegenerator-brick projections of an adjacent course, and theregenerator-brick projections of the two chamber facing sides of said 35walls being disposed opposite each other and meeting, thereby providingcommunicating zig-zag gas iow spaces between the regenerator-brickprojections o-f adjacent courses of wall bricks in both walls andbetween 30 each two projections in the same courses of bricks.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH DANIELS.

Cil

